Bruce Lloyd

The future of capitalism

In discussion with Bruce Lloyd, Lester Thurow, Professor of Management and Economics at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks about his new book The Future of Capitalism. Despite the end of communism, or perhaps because of it, Thurow argues that capitalism will be under considerable pressure in the years ahead. These challenges arise from demographic factors, including increased trends for more global mobility; as well as the impact on the global economy of the new knowledge‐based industries, which are going to create both new opportunities for inequality at the same time as reinforcing old inequalities. Thurow argues strongly that we need to combine an understanding of these pressures and trends, with a willingness, and ability, to intervene effectively, if we are to be optimistic about the economic development of the world as a whole in the years ahead.

Ethics for the new millennium

Presents a discussion with Rushworth M. Kidder, President of the Institute for Global Ethics. Kidder considers the central ethical issue of our time to be the continuity of the human race, because of the way that technology today enables us to leverage individual decisions. His concern is that we are raising an entire generation of people without their own built‐in sense of ethics. The major global priority is to understand and reinstate the concept of community and what it means to live within a community. Argues that there are five core values that people keep coming back to as we raise this question. People talk about love or compassion, kindness or caring; they talk about honesty, integrity, truth telling; they speak of fairness, equity, justice; they talk about responsibility and accountability for one’s actions; and they talk about a sense of respect, tolerance of diversity, and a willingness to appreciate other people. These are all critical and we should be optimistic about making progress into the next millennium.

The end of the job

Presents the transcript of an interview with William Bridges, author of Jobshift: How to Prosper in a Workplace without Jobs. Argues that the whole, traditional concept of the job is now becoming a historical artefact. As well as discussing challenges for the future, touches upon benchmarking and re‐engineering, leadership and strategy, and the high priority for learning. The transcript is followed by a review of the book.

A new approach to leadership

Presents Bruce Lloyd in discussion with Larry Spears, Executive Director of the Robert Greenleaf Center and editor of several publications which developed the work of Robert Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader. This suggested that we need radically to rethink how we relate to each other in our institutions, and that leadership needs to be based, first and foremost, on meeting the needs of others. Not only is the concept of servant‐leadership now being put forward as a good idea in theory, but it can also be justified on the grounds that it produces superior results in practice. It challenges the traditional hierarchical, power‐driven model and replaces it with a more democratic and learning‐focused approach. Spears believes that the next decade is likely to show how more organizations are successfully operating with servant‐leadership and this will inspire others to follow.

Leadership for the new millennium

Robert Theobald and Bruce Lloyd discuss the need to rethink our social structures, priorities and what we mean by leadership. Presents the challenges facing the world, but especially for politicians and those involved in international agencies, in the millennium ahead.

Culture and Change: Conflict or Consensus?

Fons Trompenaars is the Managing Director of the Centre for International Business and his book, Riding the Waves of Culture , is concerned with attempting to further the understanding of cultural diversity in business, particularly international business. His analysis is based on extensive research involving 15,000 employees in 50 countries, in which he explores the cultural extremes and incomprehension that can arise when doing business across cultures in different parts of the world – even when those involved are working for the same company. Explores in this discussion with Bruce Lloyd (Head of Strategic and International Management at South Bank University) some of the critical and sensitive areas, such as the underlying assumptions used in the analysis, stereotyping and equal opportunities.

Consulting for virtual excellence: virtual teamwork as a task for consultants

This paper explores how consulting can contribute to the success of virtual teamwork. Based on an introduction to the concept of virtual teams, the potential of virtual teamwork for consultants and clients is outlined. Central questions are: “For which reasons do virtual teams deserve additional attention by business leaders?” and “What kind of services can be offered by consultants that cannot be performed by the client organisation itself?”. The paper finishes with a discussion of the qualifications and resources consultants should possess if they wish to consult on virtual teamwork, highlighting the broad range of requirements and the need to accumulate extensive experience.

Office productivity—time for a revolution?

Abstract In the industrialized world office work involves about half the population; and the asset value of office buildings is the largest single item in the value of a nations asset base. Yet the whole area is notorious for its low productivity in terms of both people and buildings. Historically offices have been treated with a mixture of indifference and indulgence by top management. How and why has this happened? And what can be done about it? This paper analyses the reasons behind this appalling waste of resources; it also discusses the forces for change and makes a number of suggestions that could radically affect the outlook for office buildings and office work in the 1990s and beyond.

The identification and assessment of political risk in the international environment

Abstract Investment decisions are based on a risk/return analysis. The author of this paper asks the basic question ‘Where do politics come in to this analysis?’ In the first part of the article he considers why companies expose themselves to political risk. Next section is concerned with identifying those factors of special importance internationally. The final part of the paper focuses on what alternative policies can be pursued in order to minimize exposure to political risks.

Leadership and Learning

Leadership needs to be seen within the organizational context of managing change (i.e. transformational leadership). The most useful approach is through the use of the vision‐commitment‐management model. Discusses both how leaders emerge in society, and how they can flourish within a learning organization and the educational system, the critical success factors over the longer term being the development and manifestation of a sense of responsibility and integrity. Britain has some particular challenges in changing deeply established historical attitudes and patterns of behaviour, particularly associated with its culture, political structures and the concept of professionalism; these need to be more thoroughly understood if they are to be effectively challenged in order to establish more international/multi‐cultural leadership styles relevant to the needs of the decades ahead.